MISTAKES ON A TRAIN: THE DANGERS OF LAWYERS WORKING ON THE MOVE
This post is caused by a Twitter thread this evening. I was travelling on a train and a solicitor sat beside me (who I did not know). I knew she was a solicitor because she took out a laptop and…
MORE ON THE GREAT BUNDLE TAKEAWAY DEBACLE: A “DIFFICULT” QUESTION OF STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION FOR FAMILY LAWYERS
There has been a large amount of comments on the previous posts in relation to taking away of bundles after trial. For family lawyers there is an even greater problem. The “joint notice” from HMCTS endorsed by the Bar Council…
A TINY BIT MORE ON BUNDLES AND THE TAKEAWAY CONDUNDRUM
The earlier post set out HMCTS guidance in relation to the taking away of documents after a hearing. At the same time as HMCTS prepared the Joint Notice the Bar Council issued an explanatory note “Many of you will be…
WITNESS BUNDLES: TAKE THEM AWAY AT THE END OF THE TRIAL – OR ELSE
This has been a week dominated by bundles. To end the week the Bar Council has sent out a joint notice from HMCTS on removal of court bundles. This provides a major incentive to ensure that bundles are, in fact,…
BUNDLES AND PAGINATION CAN BE THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES: ADVICE FROM ACROSS THE PROFESSION
I didn’t mean to start another “crowd sourcing” blog post so soon. However the post yesterday on the changes to the rules as to to bundles started an unexpected furore. The preparation of bundles has always been a big part…
THE RULES THEY ARE A CHANGING: NEW RULES ON BUNDLES FROM THE 6th APRIL 2019
New rules are coming into force on the 6th April. The CPR update can be found here. The most important from the point of view of anyone preparing for a hearing or trial on or after the 6th April is…
PRACTICE NOTE: BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS IN MANCHESTER: NO BUNDLE NO HEARING
Below I reproduce a Practice Note issued Mr Justice Barling, Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster. It deals with a transition process up to the point where (later this year) parties can file all documents electronically in the Manchester…
ELECTRONIC BUNDLES, WITNESSES AND THE TRIAL PROCESS: A WARNING FROM THE COURTS: SORT THIS OUT OR THE COURT WILL GO BACK TO PAPER BUNDLES
There is a warning to anyone considering the use of electronic bundles at trial contained in the judgment of Mr Justice Birss in Invista Textiles (UK) Ltd & Anor v Botes & Ors [2019] EWHC 58 (Ch). THE CASE The judge…
EXPERT EVIDENCE: THE DANGERS OF JUMPING THE GUN: JUDGES DO NOT PASSIVELY ACQUIRE AN ENCYCLOPEDIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONTENTS OF BUNDLES BY OSMOSIS
There is so much for litigators to learn from the judgment of Master Thornett in Hall v Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWHC 3276 (QB) that I considered a series of blog posts. There are a number of central…
“EFFICIENCY” AND THE COURT SYSTEM 3: WANT TO BE A LAWYER? BUY YOURSELF A SELFIE STICK
In the third (and I suspect not the last) I want to set out a series of tweets which arose from the earlier posts on this topic. There were a series of tweets about the problems caused by courts losing…
“EFFICIENCY” AND THE COURT SYSTEM 2: A COMEDY OF ERRORS – YOU BE THE JUDGE
Yesterday I did a short post on court errors. I have been given permission to post another one. Again I will let the facts speak for themselves. A series of tweets from Mairead @m417ead 10 repeated with their permission. A SAD SAGA Trial 1…
ARE THE COURTS MANAGED IN A COMPETENT MANNER? YOU BE THE JUDGE…
A post earlier this week emphasised the need not to make pejorative statements in litigation, an American judge stated “the better practice is usually to lay out the facts and let the court reach its own conclusions.” That is all…
DEALING WITH THE ARCH ENEMY: EVERY LITIGATOR’S BUGBEAR
Some of the ideas for this blog come from the legal community on Twitter. This evening there was a discussion about the virtues of instructions that arrive in numerous emails versus the problematic (and usually broken) arch lever file. Last…
ADVOCACY: THE JUDGE’S VIEW SERIES 3 PART 6: MAY IT PLEASE YOU, MADAM: STORIES THAT EVERY LITIGATOR NEEDS TO KNOW…
In the sixth in this series we a looking at “May it please you Madam” by retired District Judge Neil Hickman. This is not designed as a guide for advocates, indeed the subtitle is “A little book of legal whimsy”. …
BUNDLES: CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: CORE BUNDLE OF EVIDENCE DRAWS THANKS FROM THE TRIAL JUDGE
Most of the posts on bundles on this blog have been judges complaining about their quality or quantity. It is worthwhile looking at the observations of Mr Justice Martin Spencer today in Lesforis v Tolias [2018] EWHC 1225 (QB) (of which…
CIVIL PROCEDURE – BACK TO BASICS 7: BUNDLES: A CHANCE TO REVISIT “SEDLEY’S LAWS”
If there is a league for blogs with the most number of posts about bundles then Civil Litigation Brief may well be in the top 10 (sadly I suspect even in the top place). There is a reason for this….
A JUDGMENT ADJOURNING A TRIAL: THE CLAIMANT DID NOT KNOW WHETHER THE ACTION WAS NECESSARY; THE TRIAL BUNDLE DID NOT HAVE THE KEY DOCUMENT (AND MORE)
The short judgment of Mr Justice Holman in Matthews v Matthews & Anor [2018] EWHC 906 (Fam) looks like a family case. However it is an inheritance claim and contains some surprising revelations. KEY POINTS If you are asking a judge…
SKELETON ARGUMENTS: GET THE FONT SIZE RIGHT, AND THE LENGTH CORRECT: OR IT COULD COST YOU
The Administrative Court Clerks Users Group has sent out an email to many chambers in relation to the format of skeleton arguments. If you did not receive this it is worth reading. THE EMAIL: SIZE AND FONTS OF SKELETON ARGUMENTS…
LITIGANTS IN PERSON: SUBJECT TO THE SAME LAW AS EVERYBODY ELSE (BUT CASE MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS MAY BE DIFFERENT)
The judgment in Reynard v Fox [2018] EWHC 443 (Ch) has already been written about in the legal press. Indeed it bristles with procedural issues, I want to concentrate on the issue of the treatment of litigants in person. THE…
SIR RUPERT JACKSON ON THE DAY OF HIS RETIREMENT: A REVIEW OF SOME JUDGMENTS ON PROCEDURE
It is well known that Sir Rupert Jackson retires on the 7th March. There are several reviews of the work Sir Rupert has done in re-shaping civil procedure. Here I want to look at a few of his judgments that…